h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have you ever watched a cat stalk and catch something? Small birds, voles and dormice are commonplace, but
the other night (I've just started July, how about you?) my cat caught a moth.

She cornered the hapless flutterer under one of the shrubs in the garden and kicked it onto the lawn.
There then followed a strangely fascinating game of cat and moth on the patio. After a while,
Puss (for that is her name) paused and left the crippled wingster flapping maddly against
cruel flagstones so I intervened (crunch.)

"Surely that was that", you cry, and so I thought until Puss (chose the name herself, you know) took
moth in mouth and polished the little critter off.

Yum yum. Apparently.

Maybe it's a desperate message to you to change the cat food brand.
My cat prefers to simulate a vacuum cleaner though. She eats all
the little crumbs of bread that has falled on the citchen floor.

If you wouldn't mind, I would like very much to borrow your cat mister suicidally insane yodeling yak.
I drop bread crumbs and other tiny morsels of food on my floor for my cat, but he stares at them without eating them.
My floor is now very very cluttered with moldy food.
Does your cat suck up moldy bread crumbs as well?

Yeah, but she pukes them over the closest foot right after.

Ha! Another moth eater...my parents' cat Colin is much the same and is particularly useful during the summer months when the light is on and the window open. Personally I think that poor old Colin is simply confused as he is really a she. My own two cats like to chase insects too, especially butterflies and, alarmingly, bees. It makes you wonder why nature equipped bees with stings if all they are prepared to do when trapped beneath a cat's paw is buzz noisily then go straight for you when the cat decides to release it. Perhaps there is some kind of cospiracy afoot.

Both my cats eat moths, however their favourite food at the moment is worms. I have no idea what excitement they get out of stalking worms and catching them. However they seem to feel that the best thing to do once they have caught one is to bring it into the house and then hide them. Over the last six months we have found dead ( & half alive)worms under mats, in the beds , and down the back of the sofa.

One of my cats, Salem (she's a beautiful black, but evil and nasty creature) enjoys eating flies. I don't know if she enjoys the protein rich content or that she has some affinity with Renfield from Dracula, but she eats them, nonetheless.

My other cat, Billy (a cute but evil and nasty, tiger cat) enjoys eating cucumber. It takes all sorts I expect.

Every cat I've known eats moths, and some like chick peas. (AKA garbanzo beans)

Well, I have two cats, who both chase flies with zest. More interesting, however, is that while one cat eats only his veterinarycally approved dried crunchy food bits, the other eats just about everything: Cucumber, tomatoes, melon, grapes, soft candy sticks, chocolate etc. On the other hand, he is actually frightened (!) of oranges, and will avoid them at all costs.

Cats are strange.

BTW, try turning your cat around (_gently_, so as to avoid inflicting fatal injury and internal bleeding upon yourself) and count its claws. I only get 18 (2x5 fore, 2x4 behind) - is this correct, or do I have mutant cats?

i think ur right about the toes...

heres a nifty cat trick...

when you want the cat to turn around, GENTLY grab the end of its tail and tug VERY VERY lightly. If you do it right the cat should turn around and face the other way. MAKE SURE THE CAT IS RELAXED AND PURRING BEFORE YOU TRY. (and already standing up) I've gotten cats to turn around something like fifteen times in a row doing this.

Moths, spiders, daddy-long-legs - and you'd think he'd just caught the yeti from the self-satisfied aura which follows.

But the biggest game of all is... an asparagus spear. These require stalking, chasing, catching fighting and killing before finally eating. It';s a *very* serious business

hehehe....

... and flies!
Did one of you ever experience that strange sound a cat makes when she spots a fly? Sounds like a cartoon sheep. akk akk akk.
The funniest things are those really tiny flies (drosophila melanogaster, i think...) who love to sit in fruit baskets. If a cat chases them, it looks like she's jumping 1,50 meter in the air with no reason.

Great name CMFMIII!

My friend's cat does that miniature machine gun noise - she doesn't seem to realise that it warns the birds. My cat just purrs VERY loudly when stalking. I think it's like a doctor saying something soothing before jabbing the needle in... ...it doesn't work!